Longmont man pleads guilty to vehicular homicide

Adolph Lopez's cousins died in crash

LONGMONT -- A Longmont man pleaded guilty to one count of DUI-related vehicular homicide last month and avoided a trial that was scheduled to begin Monday.

Adolph Lopez, 23, faces up to 16 years in prison under a deal with prosecutors that he accepted on Nov. 26. He was scheduled to go to trial Monday on four felony vehicular homicide charges.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, Lopez was driving a white Honda Accord on Feb. 25 with Anthony Sandoval and Jerry Martinez, both 27, when the car rolled. The crash was reported at 5:20 a.m. when Lopez called for help.

Investigators said the car rolled over on St. Vrain Road near North 75th Street, ejecting Sandoval and Martinez. Both were declared dead at the scene.

A Longmont dispatcher spoke with Lopez, who said he was cold, could not see any cars and did not know what road he was on before crashing through a barbed-wire fence and landing in a ditch. He said he could get the engine started, but could not get the car out of the ditch. "I am stuck," he told the dispatcher. "I can get out, but I am freezing my a-- off."

The dispatcher asked if he had been drinking.

"I really didn't have that much," he said. "I was just taking my cousins out."

He told the dispatcher he was no longer with his cousins because they had taken off on their own.

Lopez is scheduled to return to court Jan. 14 for sentencing. He faces four to 12 years in prison. However, if the judge finds aggravating circumstances he could get up to 16 years.